Habitat Greater San Francisco Gives Back with AbbVie

On Friday, June 22, 2018, Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco kicked off our partnership with AbbVie during its global “Week of Possibilites“! Throughout this week, AbbVie employees from around the world unite for a single purpose: to give back to local communities.

To mark the start of our local partnership, Pharmacyclics, Stemcentrx, and AbbVie employees from three locations in the Bay Area came out to volunteer and help build seven playhouses that were donated to YMCA SF, Malcolm X Elementary School in the Bayview, and other local nonprofits.

In addition to volunteer support, AbbVie donated $137K to help fund more home building and repairs in our region. To date, AbbVie is the biggest corporate donor for a future Habitat development in San Mateo County. Beyond local support, AbbVie also announced a donation of $100 million to two organizations, Habitat for Humanity International and Direct Relief, to strengthen access to housing and healthcare in Puerto Rico. The organizations will receive $50 million each.

Check out the volunteers in action and see all that they accomplished.

Pharmacyclics in Sunnyvale

AbbVie in Redwood City

Stemcentrx in South San Francisco

We also spoke to some of the dedicated AbbVie volunteers and learned what motivated them to come out to volunteer.

Joey Interview

Joey is an East Bay native and has worked for the company for six years.

What brought you out to volunteer today?
I’ve always liked to do volunteer work. It’s always satisfying to get instant gratification when you’re doing something, right? In the beginning, there were no houses but by the end of the day, now we have these playhouses for kids to play in. And it’s for a good cause.

What does it feel like to work for a company that cares so deeply about their local community?
I love it. Our overall goal at our company is very long term — extending lives and making a big impact. So it’s nice to do these little snippets of quick impacts, while we do this prolonged work at our company.

Mareille and Anu Interview

Mirella is originally from Bulgaria and has worked for the company for over a year, while Anu is originally from India and has worked here for three years.

What brought you out to volunteer today?
Anu: It’s a nice way to help out the community. I don’t always get a chance to do so because I’m busy with work. But this is nice because AbbVie organized this volunteer event for us.

Mirella: It’s also a nice way to bond with your colleagues and make something that’s useful for the community. You get the extra satisfaction of helping children, while doing something productive and bonding with colleagues.

This is just the start of our partnership with AbbVie. We look forward to partnering in home building and repair projects in the near future! We’re so proud to work together to help make our region a place where we can all live, work, and stay. #AbbVieGivesBack

Check out the rest of the photos on our Facebook page.